Relationship Between George And Lennie In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

In life, people are taught that true friendship comes when two people rely on each other to make their lives great, and to help them when times get tough. Friends are supposed to be there with you when you’re at your best, but also when you’re at your worst. There is no better example of this lesson being used in action than from the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. In this novel, we see two men, George and Lennie, and their struggle to make it on a working ranch. George, a hard-working man, must lead himself and Lennie to success. However, Lennie is mentally disabled and cannot function very well on his own. Lennie must use George as a crutch in order to find work and fit in with society. From the story of these two men, we see that

friendships can render people vulnerable, but at the same time, they can add significance to our lives that can only arise from being friends with that person. Steinbeck shows that Lennie makes George vulnerable by putting him in tricky situations, George makes Lennie vulnerable by harassing and teasing him, yet each men give purpose to each other’s life. Because Lennie is a friend in need due to his mental disability, this makes him a friend indeed for George.
Throughout his journey, George must find work not only for himself, but also for Lennie.

This is due to Lennie’s mental disability making it impossible for him to communicate to others in a way in which seems normal. Although it comes off as being sarcastic sometimes, George often voices his frustrations with having to care for Lennie the way he does. George says, “‘God, you’re a lot of trouble. I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail. I could live so easy and maybe have a girl’” (7). This, however, is not the only time George expressed his desire to journey alone without the company of Lennie. He is constantly repeating the fact that he would be far more successful without him. The reader does not even need George to verbally address how his journey would be easier without Lennie, because Lennie’s actions speak for themselves. George and Lennie were chased off their old ranch after Lennie got aggressive with one of the women on the ranch. In fact, Lennie is so unpredictable that George actually makes a plan for the two men in case Lennie blows their cover at the new ranch. Although there is a full list of reasons on why Lennie makes George vulnerable, because of his situation, Lennie makes George a better person. Essentially, Lennie gives George meaning in life. When Lennie asks George about his Aunt Clara, we see how Lennie’s life has actually been. After Lennie lived with his aunt, he began living with George. Because of this, Lennie became a

little brother to George. Ever since then, George has had to look out for Lennie and treat him as if he were his younger brother. This has turned George into a man with great courage, leadership, and sensibility. At such a young age, George is determined to make something out of his life, all because of Lennie. Without a doubt, Lennie gives George significance in life, even if it’s not obvious.
To say that George is pretty tough on Lennie would be an understatement.

However, similar to the previous case, as vulnerable as George makes Lennie, he also makes him a better person. In the beginning of their relationship, George often teased Lennie to the point that one may call ‘bullying’. At the time, George didn’t think he was doing any harm. However, he made Lennie extremely vulnerable. While George is talking to Slim in chapter three, George explains one time when he made Lennie extremely vulnerable. George says, “Tell you what made me stop that [bullying Lennie]. One day a bunch of guys was standin’ around up on the Sacremento River. I was feelin’ pretty smart. I turns to Lennie and says, ‘Jump in.’ An’ he jumps. Couldn’t swim a stroke. He damn near drowned before we could get him… Well, I ain’t done nothing like that no more” (40). Obviously, George has had a history of tormenting Lennie to the point of making him so vulnerable that he almost drowned. However, the last thing that George said in the quote is very important. “I ain’t done nothing like that no more.” Instead of picking on Lennie, George decided that it was his responsibility to look out for him. By doing this, he essentially became Lennie’s ‘helping hand’. Ever since Lennie’s aunt Clara died, George has been right there to help him find a job and live as if he didn’t have a mental disability. Even though finding a job would be incredibly easier without Lennie, George took the risk of letting Lennie

tag along. Although he initially made Lennie very vulnerable in the start of their relationship, George has made Lennie a better person by providing him the opportunity to work and function like a ‘normal’ person. Essentially, George makes Lennie a better person. The friendship between these two men is something we do not often see in today's world.
The story of Steinbeck’s two characters making each other vulnerable, yet better people directly relates to Todd May’s 2010 article on relationships titled, “Friendship in an Age of Economics”. In this article, May describes how in our 'Age of Economics', we most commonly see two types of friendships. These are 'consumer relationships' and 'entrepreneurial relationships'. With consumer relationships, we make friends in order to obtain pleasure in present time. These relationships usually do not last. Entrepreneurial relationships are those that have more to do with the future. One may befriend another in order to gain something in the near or distant future. However, as Todd says, we seem to have lost the idea of "true friendship". In Todd's words, to be a true friend is to, "...step into the stream of another's life...to take pleasure in another's pleasure, and to share their pain as partly my own...Rather than the rhythm of pleasure followed by emptiness, or that of investment and then profit, friendships follow a rhythm that is at once subtler and more persistent...Shared experience, not just common amusement or advancement, is the ground of friendship" (2-3). There cannot be a better example of true friendship than that of George and Lennie. The two men do not use each other for a 'short burst of pleasure', nor do they use each other for long term gain. Instead, the two men have a true friendship, which is a very rare case in society. Friends, according to Todd, are supposed to make you vulnerable. At the same time, they bring pleasure to your life that would originally not be there. George and Lennie may make each other vulnerable at times, but in doing so they make each other better people. Ultimately, this is the definition of friendship according to May's article.
At first glance, it may not seem like Of Mice and Men is a story that shows a great example of what true friendship is. However, taking a deeper look, it can be seen that the story of George and Lennie demonstrates the quality of real life friendship. The story shows that friendships can render people vulnerable, but at the same time, they can add significance to our lives that can only arise from being friends with that person. Although George may harass Lennie to an extreme point at times, he gives Lennie significance in life by leading him to a path of success. Lennie may be a hindrance to George by getting the two men in trouble, but at the same time, he gives George skills which allow him to become a better person. As Todd May said it, "In a world often ruled by the dollar and what it can buy, friendship, like love, opens other vistas" (3). Everyone can learn a great lesson from this.